Ho Ho Home

There’s no place like home…everybody including Dorothy knew that. Santa knows it…he’s been living at the North Pole for centuries. Jesus knew it…He visited here, went home, visited here again, went home again. Heck, even that dang Elf makes his way to his shelfy little home each night. So it comes as no surprise that I enjoy visiting dear ole mom and dad at the place that I called home for over 15 years. And it helps that my mom goes all out for Christmas

Warning – Little Debbie (that’ll be mom to me) is like a color maniac. She loves it. So each room has a different feel and style. The first room I crashed was the living room….

I love the simplicity of the glass vase filled with ornaments.

And the icey silver continues onto the coffee table and side table…

By far and away my favorite is the oversized footed bowl filled to the brim with balls. It’s actually a trifle bowl that she uses a lot for desserts and fruit salad…it’s such a good reminder to look at even kitchen supplies for decorations!

And I love the glass candleholder with the giant mirrored ball ornament on top. My Ma did live through the Era of Disco so I guess it’s only fitting just in case she wants to break out the moves.

On the other side of the couch, she set up her simplest display – three sequined cone trees.

Fun Fun Fun.

And then beyond that is her tree. When we were little, we had two trees – one for mom to decorate (she did different themes each year) and then one for us kids (for our nostalgic homemade popsicle stick ornaments and for any oldie memory ornaments). I didn’t understand until now why she did that. It was a creative outlet for her…and her theme trees are so fun, why not make room for more?!

This year she went with the color scheme of pink, lime, turquoise and purple.

The entire tree is filled to the rim. I love it that way.

And she did her curly cues again with the pipe cleaners. Mom is certain that in five years everybody is going to be doing pipe cleaners on their tree. She thinks it’s like the new tinsel. I think she’s hilarious.

The clip on dragonflys and butterflys are gorgeous. I love them like boys like adreneline.

But she also has sentimental ornaments…things that ‘reflect’ each person in her life…like a fire hydrant (my bro Brad was a volunteer fireman)…a small hurdler (apparently my dad did track in Highschool with the other 402 sports)…and a piano (my mom’s a music teacher & Nornie & Cole are both awesome). Next year I gotta keep my eyes peeled for a camera ornament…because heaven knows that primping poodle doesn’t represent me.

In the kitchen, mom went with a little more traditional color scheme – good ole red and green.

I love this nativity. I love the oldness of it. I love that Mary looks like she is praying over the new baby. Probably something like “Dear God, Please don’t let me mess this up.”

And I also love how the kitchen setting (yes, she is one of those people that constantly has a set table ready for the massive amounts of food she is gonna serve) is so not christmas and then she added the napkin and it was suddenly transformed.

Moving on – and I like to think I saved the best for last….the dining room.

In here it was all about the bling…show me the golden girls…seriously…do you have that on DVD? I love that show.

Back to the table setting…it’s gold and bronze and amber and hot pink. Love.

Mom typically sets tables and then serves the food on the island in the kitchen. It allows her to have more decorating space.

How cute is that yellow and white Pier 1 plate mixed in with the amber glassware and the bronze charger? And as traditional as the little napkin ring is, I’m totally diggin’ the idea of a tassel.

She even carried that idea over to the chair backs…

yup, the girl can work a theme.

I love how she used glassware for candleholders too. Cuts down on the amount of space that you would need for actual candleholders

And the centerpiece is really a mishmash of stuff that seems odd to think about putting together for a cohesive unit – but all in one package, it looks great. I love that she stuck the little amber vials in there…you know, just for kicks.

But really, what makes this color scheme pop is the pink. It’s actually just a couple berry picks that have pinkish tones, a pink ribbon and some pink mini ornaments on the table…but it’s like the ice in my Coca Cola…it makes the whole thing sizzle.

Love this gold tree. I wonder if I could make it?

Oh and she included a little splash of color on the chandelier too…in the form of pink beaded accents. I betcha you could make these with a little help from Michael and his store

So that’s it folks – consider my parents house officially Christmas crashed. What do you think? Anybody else out there that decorates each room with a different color scheme? Or perhaps you are just diggin that pink n gold look that’s oh-so-Mariah? Maybe it’s the trifle bowl that’s more your speed?

Comments

I am so in love with that tree! I am definitely digging her idea of having two trees! I actually loved the colors you used in your tree this year toO! I’m a huge brights fan! Since we are patiently waiting on finding out if we have a house (fingers crossed), I am living vicariously through blogs, lol! I also love the gold/amber with PINK accents! That centerpiece is so awesome!!!

Hi Katie, it’s me Jenn. I too have recently faced the battle of pacifier weening. I was nervous, I thought I would need a couple days where I could survive without sleep, and there would be tons of crying, and probably some screaming, and ready for this? I had to ween TWO at ONCE! Yup. I have twins. SO! I accidentally decided to connect “no more paci” to my girls going from cribs to big girl beds. Crazy – perhaps, because two changes at once? That is not how I typically roll.. but I did it. We talked about it ahead of time, and made the leap, and you know what? I was more nervous about it & worked up than they were. Yup. We had a couple tears, and a little of crying, but I had put them all where no one could see them, and was ready for the duration. It went great! Nite two – a little more crying, the really sad, I want my paci, I miss my paci, what have you done to me Mommy? kind of crying that breaks your heart, but then JUST FINE! They are both great! Never looked back. Keys to success? #1 cut it out at naps first. #2 be confident by being okay with sadness of missing it. Cuz they do. #3 he’ll be fine. It is hard b/c he is YOUR baby, but babies can do it! Even the one entwined around our hearts! #4 do it. You can do it!!! (sorry this is so long, just wanted to try to send you some comfort & encouragement!)

1. You could totally make that gold sparkly tree.
2. The pipe cleaners are a pretty fabulous idea. Fun and versatile–they’d make a great filler on a kids tree. It’s going to be funny to see them everywhere next year. Pinterest will make your mom’s dream come true
3. Thanks for sharing your Mom’s decor. She seems like she must be a fun, creative lady. So is it nature or nurture that you have those qualities, as well?

Your mom’s pipe cleaners have hit Pinterest, so I suspect she might be right about everyone doing this now, hahaha.
Love the site!! (I’m another Italian Jersey girl, too! and I’m marrying a Georgia Bulldog fanatic. Seriously, UGA all over my house.) and I suspect that Santa is bringing me my new DSLR for Christmas so I’m definitely going to be hunting through your photo posts soon too!
Merry Christmas to you and your adorable family!

Your Mom’s house is my all-time favorite Christmas house crashing post I’ve read, in blog land, so far this year. Even though it is absolutely gorg, I know that real people live and are welcome there, and that combined with all of her treasures and creativity makes it the most beautiful in my book!

LOOOOVE!!! Absolutely beautiful! Thank you for sharing. I heart the pipe cleaner idea, and honestly my tree was missing something this year (I bought all new ornaments last year after Christmas and so I was kind of winging it on what I needed/wanted) and I really really think the curly pipe cleaners would do the trick! Ahhh so excited now!!! Thanks Katie’s mom! You rock!